Cuban drivers from the Guanabo bus station on the outskirts of the capital city of Havana received around 1,000 face masks donated by China’s Zhengzhou Yutong Bus Co. to help minimize the risk of infection during the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

Jorge Hernandez, who has been driving buses in Havana’s metropolitan area for nearly 40 years, said the donation is welcome due to the high demand for face masks among people working in public transportation.

The 59-year-old bus driver said that wearing a face mask while driving is something he could not have ever imagined. “Yutong is not only taking care of the maintenance and technical conditions of the buses we drive, but also helping us keep safe during the pandemic,” he said.

Like Hernandez, close to 80 drivers from the Guanabo bus station start work early in the morning to transport health professionals and essential service workers.

Havana’s provincial public transport company has acquired around 1,080 Yutong buses, nearly 700 of which have active routes in the city of 2 million people during the COVID-19 emergency.

“China has had the capacity to look far beyond our health system and has provided a helping hand to different sectors of Cuban society,” said Migdalia Aguero, 48, a Cuban nurse on board a Yutong shuttle bus in Havana.

Oscar Naury, 56, general director of the Guanabo bus station, said that during the coronavirus outbreak, no more than 20 people are allowed on board the buses at a time, and the use of face masks is compulsory for both drivers and passengers.

Workers at the Guanabo bus station have also implemented disinfecting procedures, including a rigorous handwashing process, cleaning surfaces, and disinfecting doors, seats, and other areas frequently touched by passengers.

“We clean the buses early in the morning and late at night, and use virus-killing disinfectant. There are many things we can still learn from Chinaabout disinfecting protocols,” he said, adding that buses made by Yutong Bus Co. are comfortable and meet Cuban passengers’ needs.

Cuba suspended national bus, air, and train travel across the country in the second half of March and subsequently prohibited public transportation from functioning in metropolitan and rural areas in early April as part of a governmental strategy to curb the spread of the epidemic.

Yutong Bus Co. has started to distribute around 100, 000 face masks to public transportation workers at nearly 20 bus stations to which the Chinese company provides technical assistance in the Cuban capital.

Wang Tong, head of the company’s branch in Cuba, has been handing out face masks to local bus station personnel and getting insight into the protocols they have adopted to combat the coronavirus.

“These face masks will help protect drivers and passengers from contracting the virus. We are committed to the wellbeing of workers in the public transportation sector in Cuba,” she said.

Full buses have become a common feature in everyday life in Havana due to economic restrictions and the United States blockade against the island, which bars the Caribbean nation from acquiring vehicle parts from the United States market.

Cuba has imported more than 10,700 Yutong buses since 2005, and these vehicles transport 80 percent of passengers on the island and also benefit the tourism sector.

According to Yutong Bus Co., among the company’s plans for a post COVID-19 scenario in Cuba is the continued introduction of hybrid and electric buses and the support of the country’s efforts to save fuel in the public transportation sector.

Yutong Bus Co. is celebrating its 15th anniversary on the island this year, the very same year China and Cuba are marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

“Also a total of 2,627 were apprehended for overloading their vehicles with persons alone, bringing to a total of 4,235 in all.

“Meanwhile, in the course of the arrests, a total of 7,594 passengers were discharged to make way for adequate physical distancing in the vehicles, out of the 4,235 vehicles apprehended for conveying 17,614 passengers,” he said.

Kazeem noted that the corps had been able to evaluate performance in the last four weeks following the end of the first phase of the gradual ease of the lockdown.

He said that the corps was also able to identify areas of strength where significant achievements were recorded and areas where gaps existed.

Kazeem said that the corps had strengthened its capacity to address the identified gaps as quickly as possible.

He said that the corps would also sustain the tempo and to some extent, enhance the performance in the areas where it recorded huge success.

He noted that the corps was working in synergy with other security agencies through the instrumentalities of joint task force, mobile court operations and effective patrol operations.

Kazeem, however, said that collaboration was key to the success of the special patrol operations, saying that combination of the above strategies was expected to yield adequate result as expected.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that residents of Auno which is few kilometres from Maiduguri, deserted the town in February following an insurgents attack that led to many deaths and destruction of properties.

A driver, Bukar Gwange, said that the gesture was part of the drivers support to the returnees as they wish to see the once bubbling town bounce back to life.

“That way, we get little money to ease the hardship caused by the lockdown due to the existing ban on inter state travels,” Mohammed said.

Dauda Mustafa, another commercial driver, said the free ride was a blessing in disguise as security personnel along the road also appreciated the gesture and no longer subject them to tedious screenings and delays.

Meanwhile, Gov. Zulum had already directed that an operational outreach office where he would be working from time-to-time, be set up for him in Auno, so as to boost the people’s confidence.

According to the Commander of the squad, CSP Abioye Babalola, the team would not only ensure security in Auno and its environs, but also be on constant patrol and respond to distress calls along the busy Maiduguri-Damaru road.

If initially approved by the committee and finally by the government, an estimated 100-billion-baht (about 3.16 billion U.S. dollars) budget will be provided for rubber embankment projects to be carried out nationwide, according to the rubber agency’s chairperson.

That sum of money to finance the planned rubber levee scheme might be secured from a 500-billion-baht (about 15.81 billion U.S. dollars) government budget, which have no been allocated under an executive decree for post–pandemic social and economic restoration measures.

Instead of exporting a large volume of rubber at lowered prices to the world markets, Uthai said, Thailand might look to use more of it within the country to create jobs and raise more incomes for local villagers, who might be hired in such rubber levee project.

Such rubber fender barrier project is primarily designed to make a substantial domestic use of rubber, which would be otherwise bound for export, according to the minister.

As the world‘s biggest producer and exporter of natural rubber, Thailand’s total rubber production increased for 2.43 percent from 13.54 million tons in 2017 to 13.87 billion tons in 2018, according to Rubber Statistical Bulletin.

Thai rubber accounts for up to 40 percent of global supply but Thai rubber farmers have struggled with low prices in recent years due to decline in global demand.

He said: “You will recall that in 2016, 36 states of the federation sent a very huge bill to the federal government, asking for compensation for money that they have expended on federal roads.

“This prompted Mr President to set up a committee to go and verify the claims of these 36 states, whether indeed these projects were actually constructed, were they completed, in line with the federal government standards.

“At the end of that exercise, the committee recommended that the federal government should refund N550,364,297.31 billion to 31 of the 36 states, after they were convinced that, yes indeed, the projects were completed and they were federal government roads.

Mohammed said the committees confirmed the roads and the bridges, that not only were they completed, they were in substantial good form, adding that some of the bridges and roads were built about 10 years ago.

He, however, disclosed that “there is a caveat, as the federal government will pay the states but however, henceforth, if any state takes on federal government road, it will not be paid, they will not get any refund.

“Even if you want to pay from your own pocket, you will still need the permission of the federal government and it will be supervised by the federal ministry of works and housing.”

According to him, the modalities of refund are being worked out and payment will be made over a period of time.

Mohammed said 31 states were earlier paid the sum of over N550 billion as refund for the reconstruction of federal roads in their respective states.